TENNIS Australia has a choice of whether the ailing career of Bernard Tomic deserves the hand-up of its wildcard entry into next month’s US Open.

The long road back towards the elite of tennis takes Tomic, who dropped from the world’s top 100 last week, to Bogota, Colombia.

Ranked No. 124, the 21-year-old Australian was given a wildcard by the Colombian organisers into the ATP hardcourt event starting Monday night.

The ATP said Tomic, the one-time world No.27, has entered for the US Open qualifying rounds late next month.

TA’s reciprocal wildcard into the US Open main draw would normally go to the country’s best young prospect in need of one, in this case 18-year-old Davis Cup team member Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Hardworking improvers like Sam Groth (No. 123) and James Duckworth (160) are other contenders because Kokkinakis (297) has not had an easy season.

Tomic’s surgeries in February present an extenuating circumstance which makes his case to TA more worthy.

But there will be many in Australian tennis who would prefer the reward to go to a younger player with a better reputation for respecting the tennis community and those who work in its system.

Tomic is entered into the ATP Washington DC main draw from July 28, but will have to battle through qualifying for richer Masters tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati next month.

Canberra’s 2014 Wimbledon quarter-finalist, Nick Kyrgios, rose in the rankings to No. 66 on the back of his starry run there, which included an outlandish win over Rafael Nadal.

Three years ago, Tomic shaped as a likely Grand Slam winner when he was an 18-year-old Wimbledon quarter-finalist, with only Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Boris Becker being younger men to have made that round at Wimbledon in the modern era.

Kyrgios is set to resume on the ATP Tour in qualifying for the Toronto and Cincinnati Masters events, but his eye-catching Wimbledon run will ensure he will be offered wildcards at key overseas tournaments while he still needs them.

Tomic’s win-loss record this year is 7-8 after a disrupted season in which he also negotiated the remaining four months of the ATP Tour’s coaching ban of father John.

The highest ranked player Tomic has beaten since the Australian summer is Andrey Golubev, the world No. 55.

News.com.au's Privacy Policy includes important information about our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information (including to provide you with targeted content and advertising based on your online activities). It explains that if you do not provide us with information we have requested from you, we may not be able to provide you with the goods and services you require. It also explains how you can access or seek correction of your personal information, how you can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with a complaint of that nature.